This document contains an English language lesson plan for an 8th form class. It includes exercises on listening comprehension, reading comprehension, grammar, and composition. The reading comprehension passage discusses various ways that human activity is damaging the environment, including increased population putting pressure on resources, pollution from fossil fuel emissions and toxic chemicals, and the conversion of land for human needs. It argues that finding alternative energy sources and reducing pollution are necessary to reverse these destructive trends and save the planet. The exercises that follow test comprehension of vocabulary, evaluate statements about the passage, and require using various tenses to complete sentences about environmental topics. One composition prompts students to justify the importance of English or propose solutions to water pollution in their country.

1. 8th Form (level 4) Class: 8º1
Name:________________________________________________________________________________________No:____
(Oct/13)Date:___________Mark:______________________________Teacher´s signature:_____________
I . Listen and put a tick (˅) if the following words/phrases appear in the song.
1. Rivers ____ 2. Pollution_______ 3. litter______ 4. Polution ___________
I.A _ Say what the song is about:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
II. Read the following text carefully.
Save our planet
What is relevant is that we are destroying our planet. The
increase of population is placing higher demands on Earth's
resources, is forcing the conversion of more and more land
to human needs and is wiping out the wilderness and the5
ecological balance of the planet, something on which we all
depend.
A steadily rising use of fossil fuels for energy (at a rate that is
increasing more rapidly than the population) is choking Earth's atmosphere with gases
that are slowly poisoning it. In addition, it allows the atmosphere to conserve heat more10
efficiently, so that the planet is experiencing a greenhouse effect that may have
catastrophic impact. A steadily increasing production of chemical substances that are
highly toxic, or that cannot be recycled by biological processes, or both, is poisoning the
soil and water of the Earth, is destroying the ozone layer and is converting much of the
planetary surface into a garbage heap.15
Since there can be nothing on Earth, simply nothing, that is more important than saving
the planet, our coming priorities must be to reverse these destructive tendencies.
We must find alternate sources of energy, long-lasting and non-polluting. We must
develop wind-power, wave-power, the use of Earth's internal heat and, most of all, the
direct use of solar power. All these things are highly practical, but cost more money than20
oil and coal, so the challenge is to make them cheaper. (The fact that we can destroy our
planet so cheaply, by the way, does not mean we ought to destroy it.)
We must find ways of detoxifying toxic products produced by industrial plants. We must
find substitutes for packaging, substitutes that are recyclable. We must find substitutes
for chemicals that destroy the ozone layer.25
(Isaac Asimov, adapted)
II. A- Find in the text words that mean the following.
1. progressively _______________________
2. lethal ___________________
3. garbage pile _________________________
4. overturn ______________________________
5. long-term ______________________________
Agrupamento de Escolas D. Maria II Escola Básica de Lamaçães

2. II.B - Say whether the statements are true (T) or false (F) and find evidence in the
text. Write the answers on your test paper.
1. Deforestation is a consequence of the increasing necessities of the Human race.
2. The atmosphere is becoming polluted.
3. Luckily the soil and water of the Earth are still safe from harmful chemical
substances.
4. Alternate sources of energy are cheaper than coal and oil.
5. If we want t preserve our future on Earth we must start respecting it.
II. C - SAY who/what the following words refer to.
1. we (line 1) ____________________
2. which (line 4) _______________________
3. it (line 10) _______________________
4. them (line 21) _______________
5. it (line 22) _____________________
II.D -ANSWER the following questions. WRITE complete answers.
1 –What is the connection between man and the destruction of Nature?
2 – What is poisoning the planet?
3 - How can we stop this destruction?
III. Write sentences using the Past Simple and / or the past Continuous
appropriately.
1. Some years ago/ people/ use/ cloth diapers
2. We/ make/a campaign / to save the dolphins /last month.
3. What/ you/ do/ yesterday night/at 10.00 p.m?
4. I/ watch/ a television programme about endangered species/with my mother
III. A- Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form (Past simple/ Past
continuous).
1. Some weeks ago we_______________________ ( make) a recycling campaign
2. We____________________( catch) a sick dolphin yesterday when we ________________
(sail) on the river.
3. What________________ (you/do) yesterday at 16.00 p.m?
4. The dolphin_______________________ (die) and people _____________________ (try) to free
it from the fishing nets when we _________________ (find) him.

3. IV. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate tense and form of the verbs to make
sentences in the first conditional.
1. We __________________________(threaten) our own existence if we_________________ (cut
down) on waste rapidly.
2. If we ______________ ( use) the waves of the sea, We ______________ ( produce) energy.
3. They ______________ ( take) advantage of renewable energy if they _________ ( build)
more wind farms.
IV. A- Use the information provided to write sentences in the first conditional.
1. Students/ throw/ litter in the playground/it / build up
If._____________________________________________________________________________________
2. We / stop/ deforestation/ we/save / many habitats
We ___________________________________________________________________________________
3. Endangered species / disappear/ people/ not stop polluting
Endangered__________________________________________________________________________
V. Choose only ONE of the themes to write a short composition (about 120 words)
A. Comment on the following. Justify your opinion.
English is one of the most important languages in the world. English is important
because it is, maybe, the only language that truly links the whole world together.
If not for English, the whole world may not be as united as it is today.
B. Write an essay offering solutions to the water pollution in your country. Don’t
forget to mention what the problem is, what the effects are, what possible
solutions and your conclusion.
Your teacher,
Manuela Peixoto